Journal of Business and Technical Communication Oct 2016

The <i>Net Work</i> Genre Function

Sarah Read DePaul University

Abstract

This study theorizes genre from within actor-network theory. The net work (spelled intentionally as two words) function of genre proposes a solution to the inherent incommensurability in applying the notion of genre as social action within the posthumanist and postsocial perspective of actor-network theory. The study proposes an approach to genre analysis informed by the net work genre function and demonstrates its affordances by analyzing two conventional workplace genres. Performing genre analysis from a net work perspective has value for assimilating writers, both students and workplace professionals, into a new professional domain or organization.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2016-10-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651916651909
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (10)

  1. Hart-Davidson et al. (2025)
    Revisiting Four Conversations in Technical and Professional Writing Scholarship…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Dush (2023)
    The Art of Assembly: Script, Platform, Document
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Spinuzzi (2023)
    What Is a Workplace? Principles for Bounding Case Studies of Genres, Processes,…
    Written Communication
  4. Pihlaja (2022)
    Everyday Ethics at the Border: Normative Ethics for the 21st Century
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Dush (2022)
    Drawing Into Being: Charter Graphics and Their Functions
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 10 →
  1. Weedon et al. (2021)
    Embodied Genres, Typified Performances, and the Engineering Design Process
    Written Communication
  2. Read (2020)
    How to Build a Supercomputer: U.S. Research Infrastructure and the Documents Th…
    Written Communication
  3. Read (2019)
    The Infrastructural Function: A Relational Theory of Infrastructure for Writing…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Brock et al. (2018)
    Rhetorical Genres in Code
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Clayson (2018)
    Distributed Cognition and Embodiment in Text Planning: A Situated Study of Coll…
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (18)

  1. Read et al. (2015)
    Visualizing and Tracing: Research Methodologies for the Study of Networked, Soc…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Lynch (2012)
    Composition’s New Thing: Bruno Latour and the Apocalyptic Turn
    College English
  3. Swarts (2011)
    Technological Literacy as Network Building
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Spinuzzi (2010)
    Secret Sauce and Snake Oil: Writing Monthly Reports in a Highly Contingent Envi…
    Written Communication
  5. Swarts (2010)
    Recycled Writing: Assembling Actor Networks From Reusable Content
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 18 →
  1. Mara et al. (2009)
    Posthuman Rhetorics and Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Sherlock (2009)
    Genre, Activity, and Collaborative Work and Play in World of Warcraft
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Swarts (2008)
    Information Technologies as Discursive Agents: Methodological Implications for …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Slattery (2007)
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Spinuzzi (2007)
    Guest Editor's Introduction: Technical Communication in the Age of Distributed Work
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  6. Swarts (2007)
    Mobility and Composition: The Architecture of Coherence in Non-places
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Written Communication
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    Written Communication
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Written Communication
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Written Communication
Also cites 19 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 14 View in citation network →

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